The Last Banner: The Story of the 1985-86 Celtics, the NBA's Greatest Team of All Time

An incomparable portrait of the explosive 1985-86 Boston Celtics, perhaps the hottest pro basketball team ever. The '85-86 Celtics played with a fire, a wisdom, and a delight that are rarely seen on the hardwoods today. Peter May captures that unique season--the last of an era for the great green dynasty.

Overview

An incomparable portrait of the explosive 1985-86 Boston Celtics, perhaps the hottest pro basketball team ever. The '85-86 Celtics played with a fire, a wisdom, and a delight that are rarely seen on the hardwoods today. Peter May captures that unique season--the last of an era for the great green dynasty.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In their history the Boston Celtics have hung 16 NBA championship banners from the roof of their home arena, the last won by the 1985-86 team. The team ended the 1984-85 season by losing the seventh game of the final series, and those in charge felt the loss was a result of the weak bench, thus forcing the five starters to play too many minutes. So, in an unprecedented move, management got rid of all the bench players and restocked the team, their major acquisition being backup center Bill Walton. He joined Larry Bird, Robert Parrish, Kevin McHale, Danny Ainge and Dennis Johnson to form a team that went 67-15, with a 40-1 record at home, and, of course, won the championship. May, who covers the Celtics for the Boston Globe, makes a convincing case here for judging the team the best in NBA history, not so much for the talents of its players, which were considerable, but because of the dedication to teamwork and the lack of ego of the players. This careful analysis of the season is also a thorough portrait of each of the team members going back to childhood. Photos not seen by PW. (Dec.)

Library Journal

Whether the 1985-86 Boston Celtics were the greatest NBA team of all time is certainly debatable, but there is little doubt they were the best of a long line of outstanding Celtic squads. May (The Big Three, S. & S., 1994) argues here that although Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parrish, Dennis Johnson, and Danny Ainge formed a potent starting five, it was the bench, led by Bill Walton, that lifted the team to championship status. As for the team's place in history, he contends "they played at a time when the competition was never better and the game was not yet contaminated by the ravages of expansion." How such a surfeit of talent came to be assembled and blended in a cohesive unit makes for an interesting study. For popular collections.-William H. Hoffman, Ft. Myers-Lee Cty. P.L., Fla.